The Abandoned Star Wars Set in the Desert

Back in 2010, artist and photographer Rä di Martino ventured into the Tunisian desert to find the abandoned movie sets from Star Wars. The desert location was used in 1976 to film Lars Homestead on Luke Skywalker’s home planet of Tatooine. In Martino’s series entitled NO MORE STARS, she explains:

“This is a series of photographs taken in the abandoned movie sets of the film saga Star Wars, filmed through the years in different locations in the south of Tunisia. Unexpectedly those sets have been left on location, probably because in the middle of nowhere and because no-one from the local authorities complained and therefore after years some of it have now become ruins, almost as some sort strange archaeological sites. The particular hot and dry climate has helped maintain intact many parts of the sets, or buried under the sand just sections of it. The sets visited are in four different locations.”

While the series of photos were taken years before, in 2012 a group of Star Wars fans raised money to restore the abandoned movie sets. You can read more about the project on NBC News.

Martino was born in Rome in 1975. She received her BA in Fine Art Media from the Chelsea College of Art and her MFA in Fine Art Media from the Slade School of Art in London. She currently lives in New York City and has had group and solo shows since 2002. You can see her complete portfolio at radimartino.com and radimartino.tumblr.com